Wednesday, 16 November 2011

Still Twirly But So Far So Good

Just a quick one today with an update on me and Adam.

Meeting with my new piece of tech was fairly pain-free and a little bit exciting. I went through the set-up with my, as always, excellent DSN and the first set insertion was pretty easy. The set is located about half-way between my side and my belly button. The wonderfully supportive Laura has requested a movement outwards next whilst she still adjusts to my new appendage so we'll see how that goes tomorrow.

I started with a single basal rate set at 0.5u. On to this a 50% reduction was applied to run until my legacy Levemir ran out of effectiveness. But after a few lows before 9pm and the end of the temp basal I decided to reduce the 'un-temp' rate that kicked-in at 9pm to 0.4u. I arrived at bedtime with a BG of 3.2mmol/l (58mg/dl) I quickly gobbled 15g of carbs and set my alarm for 2am and 4am knowing I'd be up at 6.15am to go to work anyway. I was pleasantly surprised with scores of 8.9 (160), 8.8 (158) through the night and waking to 8.2 (147).

Last night passed similarly uneventfully with a single middle of night test of 6.6 (118) and waking up to exactly the same. A drop in the next hour or so to 3.5 (63) quickly proved that it's wrong to be smug.

Initial thoughts are still very positive although I'm still getting used to feeling very guilty for not injecting when I eat; even though I know I'm still delivering the insulin by pressing a few buttons. Testing has also become less stressful as I know that it's not going to be followed by either a meal bolus injection or a correction injection and the hassle that involves. And after working with my Accu-Chek Expert with so long it's been fun to go back to the compactness of the Aviva Nano when testing.

I did have a minor test-strip drama yesterday as I'd already swapped my GP prescription to the promised Contour that I'd be getting with the pump. Unfortunately I'm still awaiting the Contour delivery so a quick call to my very willing Mother-in-law who is a doctor's receptionist (everyone should get one - fantastically useful for appointments, rushed prescriptions etc) meant I could pick some more of the old faithful Aviva strips up before I ran out last night.

Next steps are going to involve setting up some basal profiles and adjusting my ratios on time of day, day of the week etc. I think it's because my mind tends to work mathematically that this challenge excites me rather than the dread of the unknown.

My first set change is scheduled for tomorrow and will be done with the watching eye of the DSN before I fly solo.

Finally, and it's a little embarrassing to admit, but I feel I'm among friends, I, have, a, manbag. Yes. I am officially metrosexual. Well, not quite, it's not a proper one. Just an extra small Exped Ultralight Drysac. I love them as they are simple, strong, waterproof and this is just the right size to hold my kit without being too cumbersome. I'm still at the stage of believing the DSN and carrying spares of almost everything and this fits the bill perfectly. And obviously it's tangerine, NOT orange as they describe it. Definitely not. Nup.

So yes, it's still too early to say it's perfect but so far it's pretty good.

Disclaimer - please read!

I am not a medical professional in any way. Nothing on this site should be construed as medical advice. Your diabetes will vary. Contact your health care provider for specific questions and advice. Without sounding like a pharmaceutical company – do not change medication, dosage or philosophy without speaking to your DSN, doctor, consultant or witchdoctor.